ㅐ(ae, IPA: [ɛ]) is a vowel in Korean hangul. The Unicode for ㅐ is U+3150. It also shares its pronunciation with ㅔ.
History
The letter was originally the combination of ⟨ㅏ⟩ and ⟨ㅣ⟩ as verified from the description of the chapter "An Explanation of the Medials (中聲解)" of the Hunminjeongeum Haerye.[a][1] In the 15th century, the letter was originally pronounced as the diphthong /aj/, however, it was not included with the 11 medial letters, along with ㅕ, ㅛ, ㅠ, which started with the letter ⟨ㅣ⟩.[1] From the 18th and 19th century, the change of pronunciations of the word is attested by confused notations with ㅔ.[1]
Stroke order
Notes
- ^ Ten combinations with the letter ⟨ㅣ⟩ as a medial letter exist (一字中聲之與ㅣ相合者十), which are ㆎ ㅢ ㅚ ㅐ ㅟ ㅔ ㆉ ㅒ ㆌ ㅖ.
References